The Portland daily press., 1887-03-10
MUSCLE READING.
Mr. Charles n. Montague at City
Hall Last Night.
4 Successful Exhibition which
Pleased a Large Audience.

about one third of the City HALL and con-
tanned many prominent Portland people,
witnessed the feats Of muscle reading per-
formed by Mr.. Charles II. Montague the
city editor of the Boston Globe and showed
their appreciation of Mr.. Montague'S success
by the loud and long continued applause
which followed every succeeding expert
ment.
During the half hour before Mr.. Montague
appeared upon the platform, Chandler's or
chestra played number of selections. Mr..
Montague then briefly explained that his ap-
pearanc in public during the last few weeks
was due to newspaper controversy arising
from the performances of Washington Irving
Bishop all Of whose experiments Mr.. Mon
tague has duplicated After seeing Bishop,
the city editor of the Globe found that he
could do the same things and wrote an arti-
Gle explaining his theory of how the feats
were performed. Mr.. Bishop thereupon said
that Mr.. Montague could not succeed before
a large audience, and it was this statement
that caused Mr.. Montague to appear public
ly to demonstrate his theory by doing the
same things which Mr.. Bishop can do, but
oaa ih"t HC Vstii hot tNpidlu
A committee had been appointed to assist
Mr.. Montague and guarantee to the audi
ence that the experiments were properly
performed. On this committee were S. G.
Strout, Esq, Hiram Knowlton, ESQ, Dr.
Meserye, DR.. Ring, Dr. Small, DR.. Foster
DR.. G. Q. Hunt, E. H. Elwell, Esq, Dir. H
II. Hunt. A. E. Chase, V. r. Foss, Thomas
Talbot, Esq, II. d. Smith and others. Mr..
Montague explained that in doing the differ
ent experiments it might be necessary to
substitute one member of the committee for
another in sending for an object in person.
as all people are not good 5biects
An experiment performed by Mr.. Bishop
and known as the mock murder was Then
performed by Mr.. Montague. who, during
the preparations for such experiment, retired
to the ante-room accompanied by two
members of the committee. While Mr..
Montague was off the platform, DR.. Small
went to the gallery and with Il dagger pre-
tended to stab person there, striking on
the gentleman's side beneath the arm. Then
the dagger was carried to the floor of the
house and hidden by being slipped into the
clothing of gentleman sitting there. The
gentlemen in the ante-room. having been no.
tilted that everything was in readiness. re-
turned leading Mr.. Montague who had been
Dllndfolded. Taking hold of DR.. Smalps
wrist and preceding him, Mr.. Montague
moved rapidly across the platform, ran down
the steps and went dire city t where the gen
uellah ABOUT whose person the dagger was
hidden, sat. Here, still holding DR.. SmalPs
hand, the operator after few movements of
his dlsengaged hand, found the dapCer
Then he went to the gallery and found with
out difficulty the man who had been the vic
tim OF the mock murder. But in locating
the exact spot where the knife struck some
time was consumed and its was not until
DR.. Ring, who having been with DR.. Small
when the knife was hidden, knew exactly
where the blow was struck, had taken the
latter's place, that Mr.. Montague could point
out the exact spot.
Members Of the committee then took from
three persons in different parts of the hall
three small articles which were tied mn in ,
handkerch eff and hidden in hat Follow
ing the same course as in the previous ex-
pertinent Mr.. Montague, who had of conrse
again retired while the articles were hidden
ana was stll Dllndfolded, found the hand
kercnlel ana after some delay restored its
contents TO Their owners. Then Mr. S. C.
otrout wrote upon card the name of a lady
IN the audience and sealed the card up in an
envelope. Mr.. Montague, holding Mr..
otrOut nand, made his way to the lady and
presented her with handsome bouquet.
AT TINS point Mr.. Montague ssid that if he
was tlrlng the audience he would not pro-
coed with any other experiments. as il was
getting late Loud cries of 'go on" hon.
ever, showed that the audience desired more
of the wonderful exhibition, and they were
grained with teatS more difficult than those
wire test. Drs. Small, Ring and Fos ter
and Mr. Chase, from the committee. hid q
pocket-khlie on one of the projections of tbe
capital OF a column beneath the gallery of
the rear OF the hall. Mr.. Montague then an
pearea, took hold OF one end of wire about
three feet in length, the members of the com
mlttee holding the other end The process
sion started from the head of the middle
aisle, proceeded to the rear of the hall. and
after slight hesitation Mr.. Montague moved
BACK up the aisle snort distance, to the col
e el,,n, noulited settee, reached up and
iound the knife. After this, DIR. Foster hid
the knife beneath settee, and Mr.. Montague
without touching his subject. bur keening
ms hands near DR.. Fosters, found the knife
going to it without pause
Inc ngures 1869 were written on one side
wrote them upon the other side, drawing
tnem INSIDE a parallelogram which was
divided INTO four spaces, one for each figure
ne last experiment was the reproduction
OF taDieau formed upon the stage during
Mr. Montague'S absence Holding the ban5
OF the member of the Committee WIN had
paced the three persons in the tableau. Mr..
montague went into the audience. found
them and the articles used in the tablean
ana tnen reproduced it upon the platform.
In
they had occupied. r' i
MI. montague then explained how he per-
forms the different feats. He said that
man honestly doing his part as a subject and
tnln lldg lntently of some object.
resistance TSiiH ancU mSen make slight
Mr.. Montague, holding the subiect,s
nand, can detect this Slight movement III re.
slstance aid by allowing the subject to in
reality lead him, instead of leading the sub-
!ect as ne appears to be doing, gradually To-
Gates the object. Some subjects who have
made up their minds not to give any assist
ance 10 tne muscle reader inyoluntarily do
SO by such slight movement towards the
OBJECT as they passit While Mr.. Montague
was, bllndfolded he could still see enough to
Keep k. from failing and to see the hands of
Dr. Foster, when that gentleman was un-
consciously showing him by his movements
Where ne had hidden the knife The exper
lment with the wire, was done by the de-
.ooeihB VI Inc resistance made by the gem
men men when lead away from the hidden knife
Mr.. Montague shrewdly guessing by their
positions, which way to move in the first
place ana as he drew near the object. receiy-
ing some assistance by the applause
Oh the audience, which enabled him
20 ma the knife quicker than would
d ;as en-. otherwise. been the case. The
IN finding the spot. where
me man had been stabbed in the first eXne- |
rlment, arose from the fact that the side is |
IN unusual place to strike, and it was some |
lime before the final involuntary muscular |
movement OF the subject told Mr.. Montague
mat ne had pointed out the spot where the |
~ khlle mad touched the body. When he wrote |
me hgureCs, Mr.. Montague still had hold Of
Ihe hand OF the member of the committee
VINO mad written them upon the other side.
ana ne reproduced them by the same system
Oh muscle reading as the hands were moved
before the board in the way they would
move In writing different figures.
IL was nearly II o'clock when the audience
lett the hall. Mr.. Montague is to be con-
upon his success here.
Bright Eyes" at Congress Square